The Love of a Hero
by Meg Rider
Summary: Hades comes back and kidnaps Meg. Hercules must learn Hades' weakness so he can save Meg and they can be together again. A love story. ...One-Shot...


_A/N: I've decided to work on a couple side project one-shots of different Disney characters and different genres. I will write these in my spare time in between posting chapters of my main stories. As always, I will take any requests: Just let me know what character, or characters (can be crossover), you would like the story to be about and what genre you would like the story to be._

_This is a love story about Meg and Hercules..._

  
>Meg was combing her long brown hair when she heard the heard the familiar sound of Pegasus' hooves on the cobblestone. She jumped up and ran to her bedroom window. Hercules was riding Pegasus through the main gate of their mansion. He dismounted Pegasus and Phil immediately started rattling off whatever it was he was reading from a scroll. Meg clasped her hands in excitement. He was back! She rushed back to her vanity to check her reflection. When she was satisfied with her appearance, she ran down the hallway, down the winding stone staircase and outside. <p>

"Hercules!" Meg called out.

Hercules looked over at her and she waved at him. His face lit up when he saw her and they started running towards each other. Phil yelled something at Hercules, but he didn't hear it. He wrapped his arms around Meg and lifted her up. He spun her in the air once, then put her back on her feet and kissed her.

It had been a year since Hercules had defeated Hades, but there were still monsters running amok in the world and the people needed Hercules to save them. Afraid of losing Meg again, he made her stay home when he left. This time Hercules had been gone for three weeks (3 weeks, 4 days, 10 hours and 46 seconds... not that Meg was counting...).

"I missed you so much," Meg said, refusing to let go of Hercules.

Hercules hugged her tighter. "Me too. I thought about you the whole time I was gone."

"Hercules!" Phil snapped.

Meg and Hercules looked down at Phil.

"There's a dragon loose in a small village in Italy," Phil said, holding up the scroll. "You need to get going."

"Aw, come on, Phil!" Hercules said. "I just got home. Let me spend time with Meg."

"Yeah, Phil," Meg said. "The dragon will still be there in a couple days."

Hercules put his arm around Meg and they went inside. Phil was still calling after Hercules, but they ignored him. They went up to their bedroom and sat down on the bed.

"Meg, I have a gift for you," Hercules said, timidly.

"Wonderboy, you didn't have to do that," Meg said.

Hercules reached into his bag and pulled out a small wooden box. Meg took the box from him and slowly opened it. Inside was a gold necklace with an amethyst pendant on it.

"Oh, Hercules," Meg breathed. "This is beautiful. Thank you."

Hercules took the necklace out of the box and carefully clasped it around Meg's neck. Hercules then leaned back on the bed and closed his eyes. Meg realized that Hercules must be tired from traveling. She lied down next to him, and rested her head on his chest. He put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head.

O~~O~~O

Meg woke up in the middle of the night. She wasn't sure what had awoken her, but she had an eerie feeling creeping up her spine. Hercules' arm was still around and she tried not to move too much so she didn't wake him. She lifted her head and looked around, but didn't see anything. She went to lie back down, but was suddenly being lifted into the air. She tried to scream, but something covered her mouth. She reached out for Hercules, but her arms were thrusted to her sides and a smokey chained snaked itself around her body. Then, in a flash, Meg was no longer in her bedroom, but back in the Underworld. She struggled to get free, but it was no use. Hades appeared in front of her and started laughing.

"Welcome back, Meg," Hades said.

O~~O~~O

Hercules woke up and sleepily rolled over to put his arm around Meg. When he realized she wasn't there, he sat up.

"Meg?"

When Hercules figured out that Meg wasn't in the room, he got out of bed and frantically started searching the house.

"Meg?" Hercules called out. "Meg!"

"What is all the yelling about?" Phil asked.

Hercules spun around to face Phil. "Meg's missing."

Phil looked at Hercules like he had no idea what he was talking about.

"I woke up and she was gone," Hercules said. "Something might have happened to her."

Phil yawned. "Nothing happened to her. Meg isn't in any danger now that-" he stopped short. "Never mind."

"What?" Hercules demanded.

"Nothing. Forget I said anything."

Phil started to walk away, but Hercules grabbed and lifted him up so he was eye level. "Tell me."

"Hades."

O~~O~~O

Hades snapped his fingers and the chain fell off Meg. She instantly tried to run, but Hades wrapped his hand around her waist and pulled her back.

"Let go of me!" Meg demanded.

"I don't think so," Hades said. "See, I still own you."

"The hell you do!" Meg snapped. "We had a deal and you let me go."

Hades chuckled. "Our deal was you got your freedom if you helped me bring down Hercules. And you didn't, so you're still mine."

"You son of a bitch!" Meg said through gritted teeth.

"Now, now, there's no need for name-calling, Nutmeg," Hades said. "Our deal still stands; if I defeat Hercules, you get your freedom."

O~~O~~O

Hercules and Pegasus circled around the Underworld. Hercules knew this time he would not fail to save Meg. He had gone to his father for help and learned of Hades' weakness; a secret that Zeus had kept from Hercules. Before Zeus had married Hercules' mother, Hera, he had been married to Demeter and they had a daughter, Persephone. Hercules' half sister. Hades had been attracted to Persephone. He kidnapped her and made her his wife. Persephone eventually grew to love Hades and liked being the Queen of the Underworld. But, Demeter was grief-stricken and caused all the crops to fail. Persephone was sad for her mother and mankind and wanted to leave, but she had eaten seeds from a pomegranate that bound her to the Underworld forever. Hades had seen how sad Persephone was and let her go. For, he had grown to love her as well. Persephone returned home to her mother, and never saw Hades again.

Zeus told Hercules where to find Persephone and when he told her about Meg, she agreed to help Hercules get her back.

"Land over there," Persephone said, pointing ahead of them.

Hercules lowered Pegasus and they got off the horse. Persephone motioned for Hercules to follow her. They quietly made their way through the Underworld, until they found Hades.

O~~O~~O

Meg clasped her hand around the pendant hanging from her neck. She knew she would never be with Hercules again. She would not help Hades hurt him, and being free meant nothing if she didn't have Hercules. Meg leaned back against the wall. Hades had shackled her to the wall to keep her from trying to escape again. The chains were about five feet long, so Meg could move around a little bit, but Meg could do nothing more than kneel on the cold floor and cry. She couldn't remember the last time she told Hercules that she loved him, and Meg wondered if he knew she still did.

"Hades!"

Meg looked up to see Hercules running into the room. Part of her was happy to see him, but the other had been secretly hoping he wouldn't come so Hades' plan would fail. Of course, she knew he'd come;. Hercules loved her.

Meg pulled herself to her feet. "Hercules, look out!"

Hades suddenly appeared in front of Hercules. "You're just in time, Wonderboy."

"Hades, you _will _give Meg back to me," Hercules demanded.

Hades laughed, then reached out and grabbed Hercules' neck. Hercules tried to pry Hades' hand off him, but failed. Hades' was much stronger now. Hercules struggled to breathe as Hades lifted him up off the ground.

"Hercules!" Meg cried. She ran towards him, but was pulled back by the chains. "Hades, please let him go!"

"Hades."

Meg and Hades turned to see a beautiful goddess walking towards them. Hades let go of Hercules and Hercules fell to his knees as he coughed and took in some air.

"Persephone?" Hades slowly walked toward the woman.

"Yes," she said. "Hades, free that young woman and let her go."

"No. She belongs to me," Hades said.

"You don't need her anymore," Persephone said. "I've come back to be your Queen again."

Hades glared at her. "Yeah right."

"It's true," Persephone said. "I've missed you, Hades. I still love you."

Hades just stared at her for a second, then said, "I love you, too."

Persephone smiled at Hades, then reached over and picked up a pomegranate out of a basket that Hades kept on a small stone column.

"No, don't!" Meg called out when Persephone brought the fruit to her lips. She knew all about the seeds of those pomegranates.

Persephone smiled at Meg. "It's all right." She then turned back to Hades. "I know what I'm doing."

Persephone took a bite of the pomegranate. Hades wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. He then came over to Meg.

"You're free now, Nutmeg," Hades said. "I will not bother you or Hercules again."

As soon as the shackles were off her wrists, Meg ran to Hercules. He picked her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist.

"I love you, Hercules." Meg kissed Hercules. "I love you so much."

"I love you, too, Meg." Hercules said. "Now, let's go home."

O~~O~~O

Meg looked around as she and Hercules walked through the area where they had their first date. They stopped by the small pond and looked at the statue that Hercules had broken the arms off of. Meg couldn't help but smile at the memory. She sat down and ran her fingers through the water. Hercules sat down next to her and took her hand in his.

Meg smiled at him. "This is where I first realized I was in love with you."

"Meg, I've almost lost you twice now," Hercules said. "I can't imagine ever living without you. I will love you forever and I want to be _with _you forever." He pulled out a gold ring with an amethyst heart set on top. "Meg, will you marry me?"

"Yes!"

Hercules smiled at Meg and slipped the ring onto her finger. Meg then pulled Hercules' face to hers and kissed him again.

Meg ran her fingers over Hercules' cheek. "I will never stop loving you."

_A/N: All right, I caved. Evidently there are a lot of you out there who like Hercules and Meg, so this is for all of you. Also, the whole story about Hades and Persephone_ _was taken out of Greek mythology. However, I did shorten it and edit it a little bit to make it work with my story._


End file.
